Objective: The aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the structure, construction principles and coding conventions of importance for the application of the Tenth Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) in the coding of psychiatric diagnoses.
Method: The method involved an extensive review of the various versions of ICD-10 and ICD-10-related documents, instruments and literature.
Results: ICD-10 differs from its predecessors in many ways including the introduction of a novel alphanumerical coding scheme; development of the concept of a βfamilyβ of disease and health-related classifications; inclusion of diagnostic guidelines and explicit criteria for mental disorders; production of the mental disorders chapter of the classification in different versions and for different types of users; and provision for incorporation of nationally relevant coding standards which facilitates preparation of national adaptations of the classification such as the Australian Modification of ICD-10 or ICD-10-AM.
Conclusions: Relatively late and slow implementation of ICD-10 into psychiatric coding practices in Australia is mainly due to a lack of organised ICD-10 educational programs and activities at the national and State levels. In view of the fact that, as one of the Member States of the World Health Organization, Australia has an obligation to report mortality and morbidity statistics at an international level using the ICD-10, the development of comprehensive ICD-10 educational and training strategies for all types of mental health professionals dealing with coding and recording of psychiatric diagnoses should be seen as a priority in this country. APAIS, ASSIA, BIOSIS, Cambridge Scientific Abstracts, CancerLIT, CINAHL, Current Contents/Clinical Medicine and Social & Behavioral Sciences, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Health Services Abstracts, Index Medicus, Inpharma Weekly, International Nursing Index, MEDLINE, Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal, Psychological Abstracts, PsycINFO, PsycLIT, Reactions Weekly, Research Alert, Science Citation Index, SciSearch, Social Planning/Policy & Development Abstracts, Social Sciences Citation Index, Social SciSearch, Sociological Abstracts, Year Book of Psychiatric and Applied Mental Health